If all goes according to plan, you won’t see Lawrence Guy lining up in the secondary across from Malcolm Butler or Stephon Gilmore in 2017.
But the 6-foot-4, 305-pound defensive lineman, now on his fifth organization since entering the league as a seventh-round pick out of Arizona State in 2011, isn’t afraid of moving around. He isn’t afraid to leave his options open as he begins his tenure with the New England Patriots.
“Many places, different teams, different positions – I found that I needed to play different positions if I can be the best player I can be,” Guy told reporters at Gillette Stadium following Wednesday’s session of organized team activities, via Patriots.com. “So, coming into this situation, wherever they need to put me at, I can go ahead and do it. I’m not a great corner – I don’t think I could do it, I’m a little bit heavy – but I’ll try it.”
Guy signed a four-year deal worth up to $19 million with the Patriots on March 11, after spending the last three seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. The 27-year-old started 17 games and appeared in a total of 43 during his stay in Baltimore, collecting 90 tackles, 5.5 sacks, two batted passes and one forced fumble while seeing snaps anywhere from 3-4 nose tackle to 4-3 defensive end.
Just not at cornerback.
“If you put me on the field, I’m going to do what I got to do to go out there and make a play,” said Guy, a 10-game starter in 2016. “It doesn’t matter if I’m at nose, three-, five-, six- or seven-[technique] – I’ve played it all. So I’m just happy to go out there and make plays.”
Prior to his days in Baltimore, Guy had made stops – some on injured reserve and the practice squad – with the San Diego Chargers, Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers. He’d logged 13 games over two seasons in San Diego, 11 over two seasons in Indianapolis, and none over his season-plus in Green Bay.
Adaptability has remained vital for him since then. Through the changing of area codes, coaching staffs and schemes, it had to.
“It’s one of those things, when you have a close circle of people – my wife was a big support for me – and coming into organizations that have good people around me, it made it a little bit easier for me to get up and go,” Guy said of his past roster transactions. “It’s hard getting to know a new playbook every single time you do it, but hey, if you got that mental strength to do it, it ain’t that difficult. It’s not an easy subject, but that built me as a player.”
As a player, Guy has built himself into a little bit of everything. An interior rusher on passing downs, an edge-setter along the fringe of a three-man front – it isn’t hard to see why his traits fit New England’s criteria as the new league year began three months ago.
The defense is as multiple as Guy. He won’t pigeonhole himself to one position, one technique or one gap in it. Nor would it make sense for him to.
That isn’t what brought Guy to Foxborough.
“Wherever they put me at, pretty much,” added Guy. “I like to be on the field. So, they put me at a position that I need to work at, I go out there and do it. The whole object is to be able to play multi positions on the field so you can be out there [for] the most time you can, and how you can help the team out. And if you only can do one thing, you ain’t really helping the team. If you can do multiple things, you can help the team a lot.”